What Is the Point of the Twitter Character Limit

Twitter has grown to an impressive 200 million users in just the four years since it came out. Even more impressive is that they got most of those users to sign up in the last couple of years especially as public awareness has increased when it comes to this social network. Celebrities have played a large role in championing Twitter and spreading the reach of this network.

You've probably heard of it by now, but if you're unfamiliar with Twitter, this is a micro blogging social network. The idea is that people can make quick short blog posts called tweets. These tweets are seen by anyone who visits their profile, and people can do the Facebook "friend" equivalent called following each other. This makes it so that person's tweets or micro-blogs/posts appear on your own profile's feed for you to see.

Twitter is also very powerful marketing tool whether you want to use it to market your business or your website. It's also great for networking with other people within your field.

One of the main things which makes this network what it is, is the famous Twitter character limit. Twitter's character limit is set at 140 characters. This means that each one of your posts cannot exceed 140 characters. Everything from numbers, symbols, and letters counts as a character. Even spaces are considered a character. Some people can find this as a roadblock when writing their tweets, but I believe the Twitter character limit has a purpose.

For one thing, this limit of 140 characters forces you to make the most of what you have got. You are forced to find different ways to say what you want, thus improving your writing and editing skills. It even improves and expands your lexicon because you have to use shorter and different words to condense what you would normally say in many more to achieve the same result.

Additionally, the character limit is what makes Twitter what it is and gives it its personality. Sure there may be times when you feel like your hands are tied and you may need a handful more of characters, but if you expand upon the Twitter character limit like some people have lobbied for, it starts to lose its identify and the thing which makes it special.